Sermon for the 2 nd Sunday after Epiphany, January 17 th , 2010
“ I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. ”
YOU would have called him a nut. And you would have been wrong . On first glance, this wild man seemed prehistoric—all hairy, covered with the skins of animals, homemade sandals, and a staff in one hand. A fire in his eye might have caused you to jump back. John was different . He didn't do cities: it was the wilderness for John. He ate what he caught for himself. Call him a nut, if you want. The ministers of his church did. They called him crazy and demonically possessed. But they didn't listen to his words. If you heard him, you'd stop calling him crazy.
Like a Nazarite of old, he didn't cut his hair, his beard hung down and he never drank alcohol. With the spiritual strength of a Samson, he convicted his fellow Jews of their sins, but called them to the waters of Jordan to cleanse them and prepare them for the coming of his Master. He didn't know who that was to be, for he only knew that Someone was coming. God, who had commanded him to baptize, had also told him that the One he baptized who had the Holy Spirit descend on Him from heaven would be Messiah. John was to announce Him and his job would be finished.
John knew God appointed him. The last Hebrew prophet, Malachi, had written, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” Mal 3:1 And the prophet Isaiah had also written, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'” Isaiah 40:3-5
John's appointment was to herald the coming Messiah. The Messiah! All men dreamed of His coming. The foreign rulers over Judea would be driven off. The glory of the Kings David and Solomon would be restored. God would return to His Temple and never leave. This king would reign forever and all the people of earth would resort to Him and the Temple of Yahweh , the only true God. He would punish vice and idolatry with a rod of iron. Little boys and girls heard it on their father's laps. Old men talked of those days to come and nodded together at city gates. And John was appointed to find Him and announce Him to the world. He couldn't wait . He was anxious to meet Him and see His day come. Thus, he was excited to proclaim the coming day of the Lord, and was urgent that all men repent of their sinful ways and prepare for the Messiah. In expectancy, thousands poured out of the cities in pilgrimage to the Jordan's banks, wherever they had heard John was preaching, and gladly were baptized by him.
John's preaching was so powerful that people mistook him for the awaited Messiah. “Not so!” He would cry. “I only baptize you with water. When He comes, He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy Spirit. I am not worthy to tie his shoes. I am not Messiah, nor Elijah, nor am I that Prophet foretold by Moses. I am the voice crying in the wilderness. Repent. Prepare your hearts for Him. He is among you right now, and you don't know Him.”
At one such gathering, while John baptized one after the other, his cousin Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary and Joseph, picked His way down the banks of the river and presented Himself to John for baptism. John knew his cousin, of course, but now sensed the moment of destiny and the real fulfillment of his mission coming to pass in this familiar stranger. “It is You who should be baptizing me!” John objected. “Let it be so now,” Jesus answered, “This is the way for us to fulfill the will of God.” So John took Him into the deeper water, ducked Him under saying, “Be baptized and cleansed of all sin.” The sunshine sparkled on them like diamonds as droplets of water cascaded off of Jesus.
It wasn't a trick of the light or the dazzling Palestinian sun, John knew. As Jesus began to walk toward the river bank, one of the sun's rays seemed to break off and fly downward. John watched it, fascinated. It almost seemed like a white dove made of light and it headed straight for his cousin. It hit Him and John saw Jesus glow in the light of that Spirit—the Holy Spirit John had been told about! This, his cousin Jesus, was He! Messiah! John's mission was coming to a close, and he would spend his days proclaiming Him. “Behold the Lamb of God, the One who takes away the sins of the world!” John told his disciples. “I must now decrease, and He will increase.”
Jesus was baptized with water in the age-old manner of the Jewish purification rite. Washing is a ritual cleansing still practiced today among Jews and Moslems as an act of piety before prayers or other holy actions. It acknowledges that sins cling to us, coat our bodies as we walk through this world and none is holy in himself—not one. Well, One was holy and even He went through Baptism. He made it a new thing in Himself and commanded thereafter for His followers to be baptized in water in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. His promise was that they would be baptized in the Spirit of God, “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:5 On that day, Pentecost, Peter would preach to a crowd of foreign born Jews the testimony of Jesus, their Messiah, who had been killed right there in Jerusalem 53 days before, then rose from the dead. When they learned this, they asked what they could do. Peter replied, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38-39
What is it to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Water washes you outside. It's good to be clean that way, for germs and dirt coating your body can make you sick. But the Spirit is more than skin deep, and He enters you and cleanses you inside. St. Paul wrote Titus: “according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7 The Spirit transforms us from within. Our old dead spirits, sick and condemned from birth in the sin of Adam, are born anew and we can hear and commune with God from our inner fount. The more we listen and obey, the more we'll hear.
Mere water baptism humbles us before God. Baptism in the Holy Ghost empowers us with spiritual gifts that differ from one to the other because the Holy Spirit uses us differently. But He also unifies us through this Spirit. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:13 Are you living in the Spirit? Have you exhibited the gifts of the Holy Ghost?
The sign for John that his quest was ended and his mission completed was the Holy Ghost coming down on Jesus. It was the end of the Jewish Age, the Old Covenant, and the beginning of the New Covenant of grace in the creation of a new humanity. Jesus was that new man, and we are inheritors of His nature through the waters of Christian Baptism, water to symbolically wash us of sin, the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to seal us, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to make us new, inspire our prayers, empower our lives and inform us where we should walk, how we should speak, act, live. This new life began at the Jordan River in Jesus and continues through us in this age. What could Jesus do that you can't do? Jesus had said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14 We don't know the power that has been left to us. We seldom operate in it.
Most of us are just trying to get a few things right, a few bad habits turned around. We have a few prayers that we hope for, but really don't know if God is interested. Most of us walk around in a little pool of shame and discount ourselves as unworthy of being used by God. We see the church as a place to go and worship and feel better and go home. Then our true lives recommence. Most of us don't really believe in the new life. I'm not accusing here—I know most Christians have no idea of the power that has been deposited in them. That power came down on Jesus and, because He was listening, it drove Him out into the countryside to fast for forty days. You don't probably want that kind of direction, but look: He survived it, and faced off the devil and won. After that, no temptation could get any hold on Him , though Satan would never stop trying.
This power from on high is able to heal sicknesses, end wars, change governments, bring abundance, feed the starving, and turn hearts to God. This is God the Holy Spirit and everything God can do, He can do , and He lives inside of you . You have no idea of the power that is resident in you. He is waiting to be in charge. You have to let Him. Scary, isn't it? But this is Holy God, all-loving, all-wise, all-righteous, almighty, all-merciful, all-gracious. He is a gentleman : He created gentlemanliness. He doesn't go where He is unwelcome. Welcome the Holy Spirit . Take down the signs inside yourself that say, “Private: No Admittance. Keep Out.” You have no reason to fear, and no right to refuse Him access.
This is the E-ticket of all time. Some of you don't know E-tickets: Disneyland used to issue books with different level tickets: A, B, C, D and E. The best rides were all E. You have the E-ticket of all time. Christ rises from the waters filled with light, and He turns and He spots you in the crowd. “Follow me,” He tells you. He means it. You saw that look in His eye. You're so drawn to Him, your feet begin following Him without thought, almost by themselves. Your path laid before you, into whatever adventure He claims you for, you are on safari, on the mission of your life and every face you see may be Him watching your steps, hoping you don't quit, urging you to go on, giving you His Spirit more and more. “Follow me,” is what He says. Shall we?
PFH+